Second-year students living at Dunedin's Selwyn College would secretly vote and award first-year girls with obscene accolades, such as best breasts and best lips for giving oral sex, it has been revealed.
Monica Nelson was awarded the "Best Rack" prize in 2014 and has now described it as sexist and bullying.
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She told University of Otago student magazine Critic that at the time, she didn't think much of the award. However, she now feels unsettled that students were objectifying and labelling other first-year students based on appearances.
"The second-years know that the practice is discriminatory, so they use code words for our labels," Ms Nelson explained to Critic.
"You get stood up, and potentially shamed, in front of your entire hall and you don't even know why."
Ms Nelson and Selwyn College have both been contacted for comment by Newshub.
In the Critic article, the publication reported students were also given code names for their appearances - including 'Black Rabbit', meaning 'Best Rack'; 'Burgundy Lemur', meaning 'Blowjob Lips'; and 'Animal Channel', meaning 'Awkward Chat'.
Critic has identified the tradition as happening every year since at least 2012, and say it was a part of the Selwyn College Students' Association AGM.
Selwyn College Board of Governors Chairman Aaron Douglas told Critic it was not aware of the voting being a current practice.
Newshub.
